More Otterness!

Those of you who follow this blog know that I've discovered, and become a big fan of, Dan Otterness, whose whimsical figures make the 14th Street/8th Avenue 'A' Station one of my favorite stops in the city. I knew he had other work around town as well, but yesterday, in a search for a Q/R/N train going north from Tribeca, I discovered Nelson A. Rockefeller Park, a tiny little bricked-over area where Church Street dead-ends to give you a view of whatever body of water is nearby. And here the sculptor, instead of illustrating an existing structure, actually gets to run wild. It's a beautiful thing, and these three camera shots barely do it justice.

This odd chess table helps give an overview of the Wonderland feel of the place.

And this bound-and-gagged cat, carried by toad-men and being lectured by a tiny money-collecting woman, shows the direct lineage through Lewis Carroll: violence AND satire!

And then you have images like this, which are pure charm. It's the first Otterness robot I've seen, and I want to see more. It's hard to see, but the turtle is smoking a cigar.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this city?